Any Lizards with Web Services / .NET / API / SharpDevelop experience?

[LynzM]

Haaaaalp!!!

Got handed a big 'ole "figure-it-out" type project at work, and am currently feeling WAAAAY in over my head. Anybody know any good web tutorials for learning about web services and how they behave? Trying to "learn" it from somebody else's code and a pile of poorly-documented web services from another company is MUY FRUSTRATING!! :banghead:

[DS1]

1. sometimes a trip to a Barnes and Noble can be enough

sit down, grab a few books on the subject and get a feel for the language, use the built-in help files to do the rest.

you don't have to actually buy the books, either, just absorb all the good bits ;-)

[LynzM]

3. Heh, true.

I guess I'm just feeling like I need some help with the overall implementation. I mean, I get that there are types of objects defined and that they have sub-objects and methods, and whatnot, but looking at the actual code... I'm lost, and I loathe that feeling. Maybe I'll hit up a bookstore tomorrow... I know Zornhau needs a trip to our bigger "local" mall, and they have a good, big bookstore nearby. :hi:

[meegbear]

2. ...

http://webservices.xml.com/pub/a/ws/2001/04/04/webservices/index.html
http://www.developer.com/services/article.php/1602051
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/progwebsoap/chapter/ch03.html

[LynzM]

4. Thanks, meegbear

I will check those out. :D :hi:

[LynzM]

11. THANK YOU!!!

That second tutorial let me make more progress in 2 hours than I have in a day-and-a-half, in terms of understanding! Thank you!! :bounce:

[DarkTirade]

12. Bookmarked, bookmarked and bookmarked...

I'm not even the one asking for help and I'm still getting a lot out of this post... :)

[LynzM]

13. Hehe...

Fancy meeting you here! :hi:

[DarkTirade]

14. I saw compter geekery and I came running. :)

[Omphaloskepsis]

5. Any chance of dropping the .NET and SharpDevelop requirements.

Most API's are well documented for PHP, Ruby, or Python. And by API do you mean SOAP or REST?

[LynzM]

6. Um....

Well, SharpDevelop is the only environment I've got to work on, at the moment. Not sure if they'd let me use anything else? Basically, we just need a program to load a lot of stuff to the client-hosted DB programatically (parsed from an Excel or CSV file) instead of doing it manually through the graphical interface, which is a PITA.

[Omphaloskepsis]

7. Do you already have a CSV with the data?

Then it is trivial to run a Regex on the the data (and format) it and push it into the database. Depends on the DB.

edit :: Damn, I am the typo master this morning..

[LynzM]

8. Not yet

It's going to be an ongoing process, as new sites and staff are added for each database (clinical trials). The database is a proprietary format, I don't even know what they run on the back end. :shrug: I just know they gave us the API stuff, with crap for documentation.

[Omphaloskepsis]

9. I am out of my league. Good luck with the project.

I was thinking you just needed to pull data from something like Amazon. Yikes.

[LynzM]

10. Thanks!

I appreciate you taking the time to try to help! :hi: I'm way out of my league too, if it makes you feel any better... :rofl:

[LynzM]

15. Anybody else?

Any other geek lizards around on a Friday night? Ellen?